


they're sellin' me for parts

by ShyAudacity



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Aftermath, Angst with a Happy Ending, Car Accidents, Dissociation, Eddie Diaz Centric, Eddie Diaz Needs a Hug (9-1-1 TV), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Gen, Hospitals, Hurt Christopher Diaz, Hurt Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Evan "Buck" Buckley, Soft Evan "Buck" Buckley, The buddie is really minor fyi, Worried Eddie Diaz, the accident itself is only mentioned in minor detail, the writer is very sorry for this one, why isnt that a tag tf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:54:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26954689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: Then, one of them says something about Christopher, and Eddie feels like he’s just come back to his body for the first time in a year.Hoarsely, he asks, “What did you say?”The paramedic to his left looks up at him from her chart. “I said your son is in the ambulance in front of us, we’ll meet him at the hospital.”Right. Because Christopher was in the truck with him when the accident happened. Because Eddie was picking him up from Abuela’s after a shift- how could he forget?ORThere's an accident and Eddie worries about his son.
Relationships: Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV) & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 284





	they're sellin' me for parts

**Author's Note:**

> There's one singular line in here that I couldn't get out of my head and then this happened. 
> 
> Unbeta'd and title from IDK you yet by Alexander 23

The wreck itself happens so fast that Eddie doesn’t realize he’s moved until he’s sitting in the emergency waiting room of the hospital.

He blames it on the headache dulling his senses. Smashing your head against the window after being t-boned in an intersection is bound to make anyone feel out of sorts. He vaguely remembers the medics helping him out of the front seat of his truck and bustling him into an ambulance, asking him more questions than he could keep up with in the moment itself.

Then, one of them says something about Christopher, and Eddie feels like he’s just come back to his body for the first time in a year.

Hoarsely, he asks, “What did you say?”

The paramedic to his left looks up at him from her chart. “I said your son is in the ambulance in front of us, we’ll meet him at the hospital.”

Right. Because Christopher was in the truck with him when the accident happened. Because Eddie was picking him up from Abuela’s after a shift- how could he forget?

This brings him to right now, the fog in Eddie’s brain lifting just long enough to gain some awareness of his surroundings and realize that someone is calling his name. He looks widely around the waiting room, trying to find the source of the sound. 

_Christopher. I was supposed to find Christopher._

“Eddie!?”

He looks up and finds Buck coming towards him, the rest of the one eighteen not far behind him. Eddie’s shift ended earlier than the rest of theirs today. They weren’t at the accident site- he would’ve remembered something like that. He would’ve been able to pull himself together if they had been there.

“Eddie, what happened? Are you hurt?” Buck asks as he approaches, crouching in front of Eddie’s seat.

If he’s being totally honest, he’s not even sure that he was given a clean bill of health. One second, he was in the back of the ambulance and the next he was sitting here. Everything between that is a blur. What has he been doing this whole time? Is this what shock feels like?

Eddie gets up in a rush, losing his footing for a moment before steadying himself again. He looks right through his team, walking past them in favor of heading towards all the noise coming from the ER. "I have to find Chris," he mutters, mostly to himself.

"Eddie. Eddie, wait-."

He ignores Buck calling after him as well as the charge nurse that tells him he can't be back here.

Looking back on it, Eddie doesn’t really remember Christopher’s first two surgeries. He knows they happened of course, but he was overseas fighting a war. Only really knew about them in the form of delayed text updates from Shannon and his parents- sending well wishes from thousands of miles away. But he was there for the third one; when Christopher was all of three years old. The whole day felt like trying to breathe through a paper bag, pacing the waiting room incessantly. He remembers when he finally got to go back and see Christopher after he was in recovery- how badly he wanted to hold him but didn’t want to hurt him. So, he settled for standing by the bedside and holding his tiny hand in both of his.

He never wanted to see Christopher hurt again- and now _this_. 

Eddie’s stomach bottoms out when he finally finds the right med bay. There is a doctor and two nurses moving around hurriedly as they work on the small body in front of him. Christopher’s shirt has been cut off of him and his glasses are gone. Eddie’s legs turn to Jell-O; he moves to go in but there are hands and arms around his chest. 

_I have to go in there. Why won’t they let me move- don’t they know? Don’t they know who’s in there? I can’t lose my kid. Not while he’s right in front of me._

Eddie pushes back against Buck and Bobby with weak arms, trying to get away from them. “Please, let me go. I wanna- I wanna _hold my baby.”_

The next thing he knows, Buck is in front of him, his hands finding Eddie’s hips and holding him against the nearest wall. He presses their chests together, his voice coming from somewhere just above Eddie’s ear when he says: “Sweetheart, listen to me. Christopher is okay. Alright? But I need you here with me.” 

Buck’s hands don’t let up even once, even after Eddie stops pushing back against him. Eddie drops his head into Buck’s shoulder, too tired to keep fighting him. Buck holds Eddie there until he can breathe normally again- or as close as he can get to it. 

“There you go, Eddie, just like that… can you tell me where you are?”

“H-Hospital.” He probably needs to be looked at again. Eddie can’t remember if he talked to a doctor or not.

“Why?”

“There was- was an accident. Me and Christopher. Buck, I need- I need to-.”

“I know, I know you wanna see him, but you know the drill. We have to wait until a doctor comes and tells us how he’s doing. Right now, we’re gonna go back to the waiting room, sit down, and wait for good news, alright?”

Eddie can’t tell one way or another if he agreed. All he knows is Buck’s arm is around his shoulders, leading him back to the waiting room. Buck keeps his arm around Eddie even after they’re seated; Eddie tucks his head into the groove of Buck’s neck, just trying to keep his composure. Buck keeps trying to talk to him, but Eddie can’t find it in him to respond. 

He loses time again while he sits there. He can’t stop seeing it; Christopher lying alone in a hospital bed- tiny and helpless. Still so little, such a breakable thing.

Strange as it sounds, he wishes Shannon was here. Wishes he had someone else to lean on who loves Christopher the same way he does- wishes that she wasn’t _gone_.

When a doctor finally comes by and says he can go sit with Christopher, Eddie feels like his whole body is on autopilot. He gets up without checking if Buck or anyone else is following behind him. The doctor talks as they walk towards the room, but Eddie only catches pieces of it. Christopher is asleep and being kept overnight at the least. He’s going to be sore for a week or so and he’s sporting some new stitches from where his temple hit the window, but overall, he’s okay.

Eddie wants to believe it, but he can’t. Not until Christopher is in front of him. Not until he can hold him again.

The doctor leaves him at the door and for a moment Eddie feels like he can’t even breathe. Christopher’s clothes have been traded out for a gown that’s a size too big. The wide bed looks like it’s swallowing him whole; Eddie _hates_ it.

He falls into the first chair that he sees, pulling it as close to the head of the bed as he can get. Eddie’s hand tremors lightly as he reaches out to stroke his thumb over the uninjured side of Christopher’s head. When Christopher doesn’t stir even a little, Eddie lets his other hand find Christopher’s curls, mindful of his new stitches.

Random noises come from the hallway, calls being made over a loudspeaker- but he doesn’t dare take his eyes off his son. Eddie leans in periodically, leaving small kisses on Christopher’s cheek for his own peace of mind more than anything else.

He doesn’t sleep, but he feels himself floating. Like his body is one place and his mind is somewhere else. Pieces of the accident start to come back to him. Christopher asking if they can have burgers for dinner instead of pasta like they planned on. The songs playing on the radio. Looking over his shoulder as the sound of screeching brakes gets closer-.

Everything after that is a blur. Hell, he doesn’t even know who called for an ambulance.

Eddie doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting there when Bobby appears in the doorway. He doesn’t say anything; he can’t even bring himself to look away from Christopher’s face.

“Called in a few favors,” Bobby says after a minute. “Some other firefighters offered up their vacation time so you can stay home until you and Chris are back on your feet again. Just say the word and I’ll put the request in.”

Eddie’s eyes begin to burn with tears, closes them to keep from breaking. With an exhausted voice, he mutters, “Thank you.”

“I also talked to Athena. The guy who hit you took full responsibility for the accident, wanted you to know that he’s gonna cover the cost of getting the truck repaired. He feels awful about the whole thing, but I got a pretty good idea that you're feeling lousy, too. How’re you holding up?”

 _I feel like I’m not even here right now._ “… just wanna take him home.”

Bobby nods in his peripheral vision. “Understandable. Everyone else is still here, you want some company? Or just Buck maybe?”

Eddie shakes his head. He wants as much alone time with his son as he can get. Bobby leaves after another minute, reminding him that they’re all there if he needs them. Eddie doesn’t respond. Instead, leans in carefully until he can press his head to Christopher’s then cries, sorry for everything he’s ever done.

At first, he thinks Christopher’s noise of discomfort is just a dream. Then Eddie remembers that he hasn’t slept since before his shift _yesterday_ and he turns stiff as a board. He picks his head up just as Christopher’s eyes start to flutter, splaying a hand over his chest.

“Chris?” His throat is terribly dry.

“Dad,” he says, voice scared. “Dad, my head hurts.”

Eddie doesn’t know whether to be relieved or jump out of his seat and find a nurse. “I know, buddy, you got some stitches. There was an accident, remember?”

Christopher furrows his brow for a moment before his eyes start to water. “No.”

“That’s okay, I don’t remember it all either- does anything else hurt?”

Christopher shakes his head and Eddie lets out a shaky sigh of relief. He knows he should go get the doctor or a nurse at the least, but he doesn’t want to leave his son alone. Not while he’s still _scared_.

“What can I do to make you feel better?”

Christopher tugs on the hand still sitting on his chest. “Will y-you come up here with me?”

Eddie feels like he could cry all over again. Carefully, he gets out of his seat and sits on the edge of the bed. Once he’s sure there are no wires in the way, Eddie lays on his side in the small space between the edge of the bed and his son, careful not to jostle Christopher too much. He gets one arm under Christopher’s head, the other slung over his stomach protectively. Christopher leans his head into Eddie’s chest, relaxing almost immediately.

“You can go back to sleep, Chris, it’s okay. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“Please don’t let go.”

Softly, Eddie tells him, “I wouldn’t dream of it,” but Christopher’s eyes are already closing again. Eddie keeps watching him, cradling him as close as he can- grateful that he gets to do this at all.

He doesn’t sleep a wink that whole night.

Eddie doesn’t even realize that it’s morning until Buck comes by.

It startles him at first, the random figure in the doorway- but once Eddie picks his head up and collects himself enough to realize that it’s just Buck, that no one is coming to take Christopher away, he settles again. He stares at Buck with bleary eyes, wondering if he’s been here the whole time.

“I’d ask if you want breakfast but I think we both know you couldn’t stomach anything right now,” Buck says. “How can I help, Eddie? What do you need from me?”

It’s been so long since anyone asked him that that he almost doesn’t know how to respond. Eddie looks down at Christopher for a moment then over his shoulder, looking back at the chair he abandoned hours ago.

“Can you just have my back?” _I can’t sleep when I’m vulnerable like this- not with my back exposed. I can’t protect him._

Buck looks over at the chair then nods, understanding the request without having to ask. He looks at Christopher for a moment then says, “Can I?”

Eddie nods his head; he trusts Buck. He knows he means well. Eddie watches as Buck takes a step closer to the bed, leaning in and brushing Christopher’s hair away from his forehead. He kisses the crown of Christopher’s head, breathing him in for a moment before pulling away. Then, Buck does the same to Eddie, holding the back of his head gently as his mouth lands just above Eddie’s eyebrow.

Eddie closes his eyes as the moment drags on. Silently, he wonders how he could have ever survived if Buck hadn’t come into his life. What a mess he would be without someone like him around.

Then, Buck takes Eddie’s empty chair and positions it between Eddie and the door, right at the foot of the bed. He doesn’t say anything, just watches- ready for whatever could come their way.

Eddie lets his head drop to the mattress as he relaxes for the first time in hours and for once, falls asleep without having to worry about whether or not he’s safe.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought this would've been longer but honestly I think if I'd gone into anymore detail about Chris being hurt I would've just hurt my own feelings. 
> 
> Hey, thanks for reading my fic! Comments/Kudos are appreciated and encouraged. Have a great day!


End file.
